Schumacher Set, but Drivers Line-Up Still Unsure

World champion Michael Schumacher should get back to work this month after a winter break, while Jaguar will unveil the first new Formula One car of 2001 next week.

Yet Grand Prix fans are still awaiting confirmation that 22 cars will again be lining up in Australia at the beginning of March.

Three teams - Arrows, Prost and Minardi - have still to finalise their driver line-ups and more than a quarter of the grid could be new faces.

The biggest question mark hangs over Minardi, who had hoped to make a major announcement before Christmas in their quest for an engine to keep them in the running with the other 10 teams next season.

They have remained silent into the New Year and the struggling Italian team is also the only one with no drivers named in the FIA's provisional list of entrants.

"Things are progressing favourably," said team boss Giancarlo Minardi last month. "The prospects are quite good and I hope the 2001 season will be more serene, quiet and faster than the previous one."

The team has been unable to test since the end of last season although Ford allowed Minardi to keep their customer V10 engines until the end of December, and Spanish teenager Fernando Alonso was given track time by Benetton.

There has been talk of a deal with French industrial concern Mecachrome, who make the Renault-based Supertec engines, and that looks to be Minardi's main hope as the countdown to the new season begins.

Partner

Prost will shakedown the first of their new Ferrari-engined AP04 cars in the first half of January and announce a partner for French driver Jean Alesi shortly.

Arrows, who two seasons ago ditched Finland's Mika Salo a week before the first race, have yet to confirm renewed contracts for Dutchman Jos Verstappen and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa but hope to do so by the end of the month.

They have also yet to name a test driver.

Jaguar, who launched to great fanfare at Lord's cricket ground in London last season and then failed to impress on the track with just four points in their debut year, will be first out with their new car.

In what may be the start of a trend, the team has distanced itself from last year's extravaganza with a launch on January 9 at their design centre in Coventry - the Ford-owned carmaker's home in central England.

Sauber, with Finland's Kimi Raikkonen poised to become one of the most inexperienced drivers in Formula One history, should be next up with a launch at their Hinwil headquarters in Switzerland on January 24.

Last year, they had a public launch at an indoor arena in Zurich better known for rock concerts.

Williams are expected to unveil their new challenger in Barcelona on the 25th with BAR looking at the 26th. Other teams are aiming for February dates.

Around the launches, testing will continue with Ferrari's Schumacher set to return after surgery on the leg he broke at Silverstone in 1999.

Schumacher has not tested for the team since the final grand prix of the year in Malaysia in November but is due to attend a Ferrari day at the Italian ski resort of Madonna di Campiglio on January 13.

"I'm counting on testing the new car at the end of January," the triple champion said before Christmas.

Finland's Mika Hakkinen, runner-up in 2000 after two titles in a row with McLaren, became a father last month and has also not tested since the end of the season.

A McLaren spokeswoman said test schedules were still being drawn up and could not confirm his date of return.